There are nine muses now. But originally there were probably only one, and then, three. These original three muses, who are replaced wholesale by the nine younger muses, are Melete, Mneme, and Aoede. They are also referred to as the Boeotian muses, the mousai or musae.

Melete is the goddess of performance, Mneme is the goddess of memory, and Aoede is the goddess of voice. In combination they were the three requirements for poetic art. The poet must remember his poem correctly. Secondly, he must speak the poem in a melifluous and commanding voice. Finally, he must accentuate his poem with a stirring performance. These three goddesses were actually less goddesses than nymphs. They are the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne. Or maybe Uranus and Gaia. Or Pierus and Antiope a nymph. In any case, this is mythology, and the pantheonic genealogy is never very stable. Especially considering how Zeus got around. The muses have never been really static. And their function wasn’t so much the inspiration that we now associate with muses, but rather benediction.

The ancient three muses, the elder muses, were also alternately named as Nt, Mes, and Hypat. They were named after the three chords played on the antique lyre. Or alternately the three chords were named after them. take your pick. In order to fit the muses into the Greek pantheon, three other muses are identified as daughters of Apollo: EW56Bhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C4%93phissoWH6PDZ6EFPCephisso, Apollonis, and Borythenis.

These three muses were replaced by the younger muses, nine new muses who each had creative domain of one art form, rather than the entirety of poetic performance. These nine later muses are EW56Bhttp://www.pantheon.org/articles/c/calliope.htmlWH6PDZ6EFP Calliope, Clio, Erato, Euterpe, Melpomene, Polyhymnia, Terpsichore, Thalia and Urania. Calliope is the goddess of beautiful voice, the inspiration of heroic poetry. Clio is the goddess of historical poetry, and the mother of alphabets. Erato is the goddess of lyric poetry, the inspiration of love poems and the like. Euterpe is the goddess of delightful poetry, lyric poetry and music. Melpomene is the goddess of tragedy. Polyhymnia is the the goddess of the sacred hymn and religious dance. Terpsichore is the goddess of dance and choreography, as well as choral dancing. Thalia is the cheerful muse of comedy and pastoral poetry, those poems about camping and living in the county. Finally, Urania is the muse of astronomy and astrology. It is useful to consider that astrology and astronomy in ancient times were nearly synonymous, and the casting and interpretation of a horoscope was pretty much an art form.